The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

threat to them. The double digit growth in the official
defense budget over the past 20 years, along with periodic
provocative acts by the PLA and some incendiary
rhetoric by military men, combine to call into question
whether there may be a “civil-military gap” in China’s
peaceful rise. 42 Beijing has become increasingly aware
of perceptions of a China threat in other countries
and adopted increasingly sophisticated approaches to
countering this international concern. Promotion of a
“New Security Concept” in the 1990s morphed into
projection of the “peaceful rise” slogan in less than a
decade. The latter term was quickly amended to the
less ominous “peaceful development.” 43
The PLA dimension to this public relations campaign
has slowly ramped up. One of the first indications
was the appearance of biannual defense white
papers (preceded by a white paper on arms control
in 1995) starting in 1998. Squarely aimed at a foreign
audience, the document has become gradually more
sophisticated, detailed, and lengthy. The aim is to
respond to demands that China become more transparent
in defense matters. The 2008 Defense White
Paper highlights the efforts of China’s armed forces
in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief activities,
especially but not exclusively domestically. The
latest iteration marks the emergence of the acronym
“MOOTW.” The acronym also appears on the Ministry
of National Defense’s website. Significantly,
the term appears alongside a peace sign icon only
on the English language version of the webpage and
is absent from the Chinese language version. 44 This
strongly suggests that use of the acronym is directed
externally toward foreign audiences. Perhaps the primary
purpose of the visit of General Xu Caihou to the
United States in October 2009 was to highlight the nu-
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